Conveyer mechanism



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CONVEYER MECHANISM Filed QCJ. l, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 JHM Patented Apr.7, v1936 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE CONVEYER MECHANISM ApplicationOctober 1,

2 Claims.

Pll'his invention relates to an improvement in conveyer mechanism andmore particularly to a station installation including an auxiliaryconveyer by which articles are fed to and removed from a main conveyer,such auxiliary conveyer including stop mechanism by which the movementof the articles is controlled and regulated.

'For the purpose of showing this invention I have elected to discloseand describe one genus thereof comprising an auxiliary conveyer soconstructed and arranged that trays are loaded or unloaded from a mainreversible vertical conveyer of the well known flight type; the loadingoperation taking place during the upward travel of the conveyer and theunloading operation taking place during downward travel thereof.

The primary object of this invention is to provide in conjunction withthe article transporting means of the auxiliary conveyer a stopmechanism including a stop member which is yieldably advanced into thepath of travel of the trays and positively withdrawn therefrom by meanscontrolled automatically by the main conveyer.

A further object of this invention is to provide in conjunction withsuch stop mechanism a pair of conveyer belts one at each side of thestop member, which belts are continuously Adriven to hold the iirst ofthe articles to be loaded onto the main conveyer in contact with thestop member.

Other objects of this invention will appear from a consideration of thefollowing description of the elected genus and of the drawings whichform a part thereof and in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a station installation provided with oneembodiment of the invention;

Figs. 3 and 4 are views illustrating on a larger scale such stopmechanism;

Figs. 5 and 6 are views similar to Figs. 1 and 2 of a stationinstallation provided with stop mechanism embodying another form of theinvention;

Fig. '7 is an enlarged side elevation showing the stop mechanism in theinoperative position; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-8 of Fig. 7.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive trays are fed to and removed from amain conveyer A by an auxiliary conveyer B. The main conveyer Acomprises two pairs of chains IEI and II to which are secured flights I2in the usual way so that each pair of flights coact to support a trayI3. The flights and chains travel in a well defined by upright anglebars I4 which also act to support the shafts I5. Mounted on the shaftsI5 are the sprockets for the chains and While only the foot 1932, SerialNo. 635,786

sprockets I 6 are here shown, it will be understood that the mainconveyer also includes head sprockets.

The station here shown comprises a platform 2U supported upon uprights2| and 22 and provided '5 with notches 23 through which the flights I2travel freely, as shown in Fig. 2. The trays I3 are caused to travelover the platform 2l] between guide Walls 24 by the auxiliary conveyerhere shown as comprising parallel belts 25 and stop i() members 26 and2l. The belts are passed over end pulleys 23 and 29 carried by shafts3l) and 3l respectively. The shaft 30 is here shown driven through abelt 32 by a motor 33 supported upon a platform 34 carried by theuprights 2l and angle 15 bars 35 depending from the platform 20.

The stop member 2l comprises a roller 36 carried by a yoke 3l at one endof an arm 38 supported at its other end upon a rock shaft 39 to which itis secured by any suitable means. The 2O rock shaft is movedcounterclockwise to depress the stop by' means of a solenoid ll throughan arm 4I fixed on the shaft 39 and a lever 42 connected to one end ofthe arm by a link 43. One leg 44 of the lever is pivotally connected tothe 25 core 45 of the solenoid and to it is pivotally secured a sleeve46 in which a pin 4l of the link 43 reciprocates freely. The upwardmovement of the pin is limited by a nut 43 at the lower end of the pinwhich contacts with the sleeve 46. The 3() pin 4l terminates in a head49 pivotally connected to the'arm 4I and an expansion spring 5Usurrounding the pin 41 bears at its ends against the sleeve 46 and thehead 49 to hold the sleeve 46 and nut 48 in contact. A contractionspring 35 5I attached at one end to the other leg 52 of the lever 42 andat the other end to an upright 22 coacts with the spring 55 to hold thestop mechanism in the normal position shown in Fig. 1. A limit stop 53is arranged to engage the leg 52 and 40 prevent the lever under the urgeof the spring 5I from traveling too far. When the solenoid 45 isenergized by means about to be described, the core 45 is retracted andthe lever 42, acting through the link 43 moves the arms 4I and 313 45counterclockwise thus depressing the stop member 2l and permitting thetray I3 in contact therewith to be advanced by the belts 25 into contactwith the stop member 26 by which it is held in the path of travel of theconveyer flights.

As here shown the solenoid 4I] is energized by an electric circuitincluding a normally open circuit maker 54 which is located in the welland tripped in the usual well known manner by each night on one pair ofchains as it approaches the 55 platform 20 upon its upward travel. Whilethe depression of the stop member 21 is only momentary, it is sufficientto allow the belts 25 to advance the waiting tray over the member, and,since that member is yieldably returned by the action of the springs 50and 5|, the weight of the tray will be sufficient to hold the memberdepressed until it has passed. The roller 36 reduces to a minimum thefrictional resistance of thestop member to this travel of the traythereover.

The stop member 26 is normally in the functioning position shown in thedrawings. When however the flights travel downwardly the stop member isretracted by energizing a solenoid 5.5 controlled through. a switch 56which is closed when the flights so travel. As each pair of 'flightspasses the platform 20 the tray carried thereby is placed on the belts25 and .carried out of the well over the depressed stop member 26. It.will be understood that the iiights, when traveling downwardly, willnot actuate the vcircuit :maker 54 previously described.

Figs. 5, 6, '7 and 8 disclose an embodiment Vof this inventioncomprising the -combination with a tray transferringstructure ofthe.type setforth in Patent No. 1,974,042, granted to m'e on Sept. 18,1934, of a modified form of the stop ,member and mechanism previouslydescribed.

`In this embodiment trays I I3 'to be loaded onto the nights ||2 of themain conveyer are advanced over a platform |20 by parallel spaced belts|25 and the travel of the trays is controlled by stop members |26 and|21. Each tray stopped by the member |26 is `transferred from theplatform |20 by an orbitally vmoving arm C into the well and removedfrom the arm' by the flights |2. Thelfstructure and operation of thetransfer arm mechanism, as set forth in detail in the above application,form no part of the present invention and hence will not be heredescribed other than to point out that the arm C is actuated by shafts|30 and |3| suitably driven `continuously by the mechanism (not shown)which drives the main conveyer.

The stop member |21 comprises an arm |38 fixed upon a rock shaft |39 andhaving a nose which presents a substantially vertical face |36 to thevtrays being fed to the main conveyer and convex face |31. The rockshaft |39 is moved counterclockwise at regular intervals `to depress thestop member |21 by an arm |40 `fixed on the shaft |3| and acting'throughan arm |4 xed on the shaft |39 and ka bar |42 pivoted intermediate itsends to an upright |22 and lconnected to one end of the arm |4| by alink |43.. .One end of the `bar |42 extends in the path of travel of thetip |45 of the arm |40 and carr-ies a freely rotatable roller |44 whichis tripped by the arm at each rotation of the shaft |3| thus causing thebar 42 to rock on its pivot. Pivotally secured in a yoke at the otherend of the bar is a sleeve |46 in which a pin |41 of the link |43reciprocates freely. Nuts |48 at the lower end of the pin howevercontact with the sleeve |46 and limit the upward reciprocation of thepin relative to the sleeve. The pin terminates in a head |49 pivotallyattached to the end of the arm |4|. An expansion spring 50 surroundingthe pin and bearing against the sleeve |46 and the head |49 tends tohold the sleeve at all times in contact with the nuts |48. A contractionspring |5| attached at one end to the bar |42 and at the other end to abracket |52 carried by an upright |22 opposes the action of the spring|50 tending to raise the bar |42 and sleeve |46. The trays placed on thebelts |25 at the despatching station (not shown) are advanced therebybetween the guide walls |24 until the leading tray contacts with theface |36 of the stop member. As the transfer arm travels through itsorbit the arm |40 trips the roller |44 of the bar |42 rocking the bar onits pivot and the latter through the link |43.positively causes the arm|4| to rock the shaft |39 and depress the stop member. The trays thenresume their advance but, as soon as the arm |40 passes the roller |44,the stop member under ythe urge of the springs |50 and |5i tends toreturn to :its :normal position. The tray then passing over the stopmember however prevents this movement .of that member until that trayhas passed whereupon the member resumes its normal position and preventsthe advance of other trays until the bar |4| is again rocked by the arm|40.

If trays are to be unloaded the direction of travel of the Amainconveyer, the transfer arm C .and the belts l|25 is reversed. The stopmember |21 is lowered once for each complete revolu- .tion of the shaft|3| to .permit the advance of the tray just delivered to the belts bythe transfer arm. As previously pointed out, the trays are of sufficientweight to oppose the action of the springs |50 and |5| so that any traypassing over the vstop member will hold that member depressed until ithas passed.

It will be noted that in both the described embodiments the first stopmember (21 or |21) is yieldablyheld in the path of travel of thearticles, and is positively withdrawn from the path by mechanism set inoperation by the main conveyer' mechanism at predetermined intervals in.timed relation to the movement of the main conveyer. It will also benoted that the positive withdrawal is for a brief period only and thatthe return of the stop member to the path is prevented in case anarticle is at that time passing the stop member, until that article haspassed.

When the auxiliary conveyer is employed to load the main conveyer thetrays or other articles are fed to the belts Aof the auxiliary conveyerin any suitable manner. Since the manner of supplying them to theauxiliary conveyer forms no part of the present invention, no such meanshave been shown. It will be understood however that the feedingmay beintermittent or continuous and may be manual or automatic as by the useof suitable conveyer means for example a gravity or a belt conveyer. Itwill also be understood that in case of a continuous feed the travel ofthe articles is at a rate of speed lower than that of the auxiliaryconveyer belts so that the articles are spaced apart a distancesufficient to allow the stop mechanism to prevent the loading of morethan one tray at a time on the flights of the main conveyer.

While the genus of this invention elected to be shown and described isadapted to transfer trays horizontally relative to a verticallytraveling conveyer and two embodiments of the stop mechanism have beenspecially shown and described, it will be understood that my inventionis not limited thereby and that other genus of the invention and otherembodiments of stop mechanism may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a conveyer mechanism, means for advancing articles in apredetermined path, and stop mechanism including a member normally heldin such path to prevent the advance of the articles, a rock shaft onwhich said member is mounted, an arm carried by said shaft, a pivotallymounted element, a link connecting said element and said arm, springmeans tending to separate said element and arm and hold said stop memberin the path of the articles, and means for tripping said elementWherebyit acts through said link and said arm to rock said shaft andretract said stop member out of such path.

2. In a conveyer mechanism, means for advancing articles in apredetermined path, and stop mechanism including a member normally heldin such path tov prevent the advance of the articles, a rock shaft onwhich said member is mounted, an arm carried by said shaft, a pivotallymounted element, a link connecting said element and said arm, springmeans tending to swing said element toward said arm, other spring meanstending to separate said element and arm and hold said stop member inthe path of the articles, and means for tripping said element whereby itacts through said link and said arm to rock said shaft and retract saidstop member out of such path.

LOUIS E. DUPUY.

